In Another Life
by charley07
Summary: Four years ago, Klaus' life went into a tailspin when he lost his beloved Caroline. He went to New Orleans, started practicing law, and even proposed to a new girl- Camille. What happens when Elijah calls to tell him that Caroline is back and asking for him? Will Klaus keep his promise to Camille or will the great love he once had for Caroline creep its way back in?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I'm almost finished with _The Wedding_ and I've been thinking of new ideas because the other two stories I have going right now just aren't doing it for me and this idea came to me. I'm still not sure I love it enough to keep going so that's where you all come in. If you like it and want to keep reading, you gotta review and tell me. If not, I'll scrap it and start over. It'll take place in the present but flashbacks would happen occasionally to explain how certain things happened in the past. So, let me know. Reviews/favorites/follows; they're all helpful. Oh, yeah, they're all humans in this one. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.**

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Camille found herself drawn to the photo of the smiling blonde girl again as she looked around Klaus' walk-in closet. It used to frustrate her, not knowing who she was or why she was important enough for him to keep her picture on his dresser but now, three years later, she'd just accepted that she would never know until he wanted to tell her. Klaus was a very guarded man and she took what she could get from her fiancée.

"What are you doing in here?" Klaus asked, coming up behind her.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I was looking for a pair of socks."

"Socks are in the second drawer," he said, reaching around her to open it. "You know that." He eyed the photo. "Stop obsessing, Cami."

"I'm not," she lied. "She's beautiful."

Klaus clenched his jaw. "The most beautiful woman I've ever known. Now, come on, let's go to bed." He took her hand led her back out to his bedroom.

Camille climbed into the bed and rested her head on his chest. "Goodnight."

He knew she was irritated that he wouldn't tell her more about the girl in the picture. "Her name is Caroline and I met her when I was twenty; she was a friend of my sister's from school."

"You're using past and present tense," Camille, a psychologist, noticed.

"In Caroline's particular case, they're interchangeable," he muttered mysteriously.

"Did you love her?" Camille wanted to know.

"More than life itself," he confirmed; he'd never have admitted such things to her face in the light but he felt braver in the darkness. "I was in a bad place when she came into my life and she saved me from falling over the ledge. I got serious about school and went on to law school because she believed in me."

"Where is she now?" Camille wondered. They'd been together for three years and this was the first she'd ever heard of Caroline, even though she knew he'd been in a relationship before her.

"Back in Mystic Falls," he answered, referring to the small Virginia town he'd lived in before moving to New Orleans.

Camille took one more risk. "What happened between the two of you? If you loved her so much, why didn't she come with you?"

"She couldn't," he explained with finality in his voice that she knew not to press. "Is that sufficient information on her?"

"Yes," she breathed, hugging him tighter. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he yawned. "Goodnight, Cami."

"Night," she replied, closing her eyes, a vision of Caroline in her head.

When Klaus woke up the following morning, Camille was long gone; she often saw patients as early as seven. He ate his breakfast in peace and showered before heading off to his law office in the heart of the French Quarter.

"Good morning, Klaus," his assistant, Diane, greeted him. "Your nine o'clock is running a little late and your brother called."

"Which brother?" he asked, taking his messages from her.

"Elijah," she reported.

Klaus rolled his eyes and pushed open the door to his office. "I'll call him later."

"He said it was urgent," Diane went on, using the intercom system. "He seemed..._distressed_."

"That's just how Elijah sounds," Klaus assured her. "He thinks everything is important."

Diane frowned. "I don't know, Klaus. I wouldn't wait too long."

"Diane, please," Klaus warned. "Just send my nine o'clock in when he arrives."

Elijah called four more times that morning and Klaus ignored him every time. He knew if it were truly serious, Rebekah or Henrik would call him so he went on with his business. He hadn't become one of the most successful defense attorneys in Louisiana by spending his time making personal calls.

"Knock-knock," Camille interrupted him around one-thirty as she stood at the door to his office with lunch. "I have a break between clients and thought you might want to eat together."

"I suppose I could take twenty minutes," he agreed, standing up. "We'll eat in one of the conference rooms."

"Hi, Diane," Camille greeted the assistant.

"Camille," Diane nodded coolly. "If you're eating, I'm going down to the cafeteria."

"Twenty minutes," Klaus called after her.

"How's your day been?" Camille asked as they settled into one of the small conference rooms down the hall from Klaus' office.

"Fine," he replied, opening the styrofoam container she handed him to find a burger and fries. "I set a court date for the McNamara case and had the judge throw out charges against Hayley Sewell; not enough witnesses."

"There weren't enough witnesses to see her stab her boyfriend in that bar?" Camille scoffed. "I find that hard to believe."

Klaus shrugged. "The judge did."

Camille knew Klaus sometimes went to extreme lengths to win—lengths she would've been uncomfortable to hear about—so she rarely asked.

"Do you want to have dinner with Marcel and Sophie tonight?" she asked, changing the subject. "She passed her boards and he wants to take her out to celebrate."

"Maybe," he said noncommittally. "It will depend on how much work I need to bring home."

"It's Friday, Klaus," she whined. "We never go out anymore because you're always working. Can't you take one weekend off? I am."

"Our jobs are just different," he reasoned. Klaus wasn't a believer in therapy but telling her that upset her so he tried to use his words wisely.

"Well, I'm going," she declared. "I would like you to come, too, but if you don't, I won't let that stop me."

"Quite all right," he agreed. "You deserve a night out. Perhaps you should invite Davina, as well?"

"It sounds an awful lot like you're trying to get rid of me for the night," Camille realized. "Are you?"

"I'm not," Klaus shook his head. "You're free to do whatever you want. I like having you with me, but I don't want you to think you have to spend every night there."

"I like to," she shrugged. "We're getting married. But I also like going out with you, too. We did meet at a bar once upon a time so you used to have fun."

He chuckled. "I was still new to the bar then; I didn't know how time-consuming this career would be."

"Really?" Camille deadpanned. "You didn't know how much time it would take to be a lawyer?"

"The life I had in Virginia was much different than the one I came into here," he admitted. "I had different priorities there and when I first came to New Orleans, I was looking to let off a little steam."

Camille could tell by his tone that his "priorities" back in Mystic Falls were Caroline-related but she didn't push. She'd won a major battle last night by getting him to share about his ex and she didn't want him to retreat back now.

Diane suddenly appeared then. "Klaus, it's Henrik."

The fear that had settled in the back of Klaus' mind since hearing of Elijah's first call made its way to the front. "Patch him through," he said, nodding at the phone on the table.

Moments later, it rang once.

"Henrik?" Klaus greeted his youngest sibling. "What is it?"

"I just had Henrik call," Elijah's voice came through. "I should've known you wouldn't take me seriously."

Klaus groaned. "What do you want, Elijah? I have a very busy day."

"Well, clear your schedule, brother," Elijah advised. "You need to come to Mystic Falls."

"Why?" Klaus murmured. "Is Rebekah having another relationship crisis? Has Stefan finally wised up and left her for good?"

Elijah sighed. "They're married now, Niklaus, so you know it isn't that."

"Then what?" Klaus demanded, looking to Camille, who was trying her best not to blatantly eavesdrop. "What is so important that I need to come home for the first time in three years?"

"It's Caroline," Elijah told him softly. "She woke up this morning. And she's asking for you."

And just like that, Klaus' perfectly structured world came tumbling down.

"What?" he whispered, turning away from Camille. "That's impossible. Doctors have advised the sheriff to take her off life support for years now. How can she possibly be awake?"

"Call it science or perhaps a miracle," Elijah replied. "Either way, she's awake and she would like to see you. Does that change your mind about coming home?"

"I-I suppose it does," Klaus muttered in defeat. "I'll get on the next flight out."

"Good," Elijah said. "I'll see you soon, Niklaus."

Klaus hung up the phone and found Camille waiting expectantly. "I have to go home right away."

"I'll come," she offered.

"No," he shook his head. "I need to go alone."

"Klaus," Camille interrupted. "We're supposed to be getting married and I've never met your family. I know next to nothing about them and now you're just up and going home for the weekend? What is the deal with Caroline?"

"She just woke up from a four-year coma," he told her harshly. "And Elijah said she's asking for me, which I suppose makes sense, seeing as we were engaged when the accident happened."

Camille was overwhelmed with the rapid-fire information. "So there's a girl—the presumed love of your life—a thousand miles away who thinks you're going to marry her?"

"Yes," he confirmed, standing up to go back to his office. "And I need to go see her."

"See her?" Camille repeated. "And then what, Klaus? Are you going to just forget all about me now that she's awake?"

He continued to his office without responding to her.

"Klaus!" she yelled. "Do not ignore me right now!"

"I don't have time for this insanity," he finally told her. "No, I do not intend to forget about you now that she's awake but I did love her for a long time and I'm sure she's wildly disoriented right now. When that car went off the bridge, she was twenty-one and now she wakes up at twenty-five? I'm sure she's terrified. Four years of her life are just gone."

"But that isn't your fault!" Camille cried.

"Yes, it is!" he yelled, before taking a deep breath to calm down. "I was driving the car that night. I was the one who lost control and went over the bridge."

Camille sighed. "Fine."

"I will return to you on Monday," he assured her, cupping her face in his hands. "I have every intention of marrying you, Cami, and of introducing you to my family. I just want that to happen under better circumstances." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, picked up his briefcase, and hurried away from her.

"You know he just lied to you," Diane spoke up when Camille left the office a few minutes later. "Right?"

"What are you talking about?" Camille asked.

"He definitely won't be back by Monday and he probably isn't going to marry you," Diane explained. "I know that Klaus loves you and all but that's nothing compared to how he felt about her once. I know all about Caroline Forbes and you don't come close."

Camille fought back the tears that threatened to fall. "I think you've made your dislike of me very clear over the years, Diane, but this is a bit much."

"This isn't about me not liking you," Diane assured her. "It's just the truth, hon. If Caroline is awake and he can get her back, he's going to. I'm sorry if that isn't what you want to hear but it's how this is all going to go."

"He wouldn't do that to me," Camille shook her head. "He loves me."

Diane shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you then."

Camille walked out without hearing another word.

Klaus' flight to Richmond didn't get in until almost seven and from there he took a sixty-minute cab ride to Mystic Falls General Hospital.

"Sir, visiting hours ended at eight," the nurse on Caroline's floor told him as he walked past the nurses' station.

"It's okay, Elise," Liz spoke up as she approached them. "He needs to see her."

Klaus nodded at Liz as he continued down the hallway to the room he used to spend every day in. He had to lean against the doorframe because seeing her awake, after all these years, took his breath away.

Caroline, who'd been looking out the window at the steadily falling rain, sensed the new presence in the room and turned her head. "Nik."

He smiled at her. "Hello, sweetheart."


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I thought this chapter would take longer to write but it came to me pretty easily. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.**

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Caroline watched as Klaus walked into her room slowly and sat down in the chair next to her bed. "I've never known you to be so quiet."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I just wasn't sure I'd ever get to talk to you again. I'm a bit in shock still."

"You?" she repeated. "I woke up this morning and found out I'm twenty-five and you live a thousand miles away in New Orleans."

Klaus looked down at his hands in shame. "I suppose we have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah," she breathed, "but I'm kind of tired so I'd rather not do it tonight."

"Sure," he agreed. "I'm going to be in town for a bit."

"A bit?" Caroline smirked. "Well, aren't I lucky? I'm important enough still to get 'a bit' of your time."

Klaus stood up again and leaned over to press a lingering kiss to her forehead. "Sweet dreams, love. I'll be here in the morning."

Just as he reached the door, Caroline called out to him. "Tell me one thing, Nik: are we still engaged?"

He frowned before looking over his shoulder at her. "We'll talk about all that tomorrow, sweetheart."

As soon as he was out of her room, Klaus hurried down the hospital hallways to the door that led to the roof; a nurse had shown it to him once when he'd been having a panic attack when Caroline's doctors had first told him her coma was going to last for a long time, if not forever. He made his way up and when he reached his destination, he started breathing heavily. So heavily, he didn't hear the door open and close behind him moments later.

"I wanted to tell her everything but it was Henrik who convinced me that it wasn't my place," Liz spoke up quietly. "I'd have told her about you and Camille and the life you've built without her."

Klaus clenched his jaw but kept his back to her.

"I don't blame you, Klaus," the small-town sheriff went on. "You were only twenty-five when it happened and it rocked your entire world. But she has four years of her life to make up now and she's going to expect you to hold her hand through it. Are you prepared to tell her that you're planning to marry someone else?"

"No," he whispered. "I have no idea how to do that." He finally looked at her. "I have no idea what I'm doing right now, Liz. When Elijah called to tell me Caroline had woken up, I stopped breathing. I wasn't sure she'd ever wake up. And then she just was awake."

"No?" Liz mused. "Then why have you paid for all this for the last two years?"

"Because you were going to take her off life support," he replied. "I couldn't let that happen."

Liz sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he shook his head.

"This is when the guilt finally settles in," she told him. "You could have your life down in New Orleans with the psychologist because Caroline was here, in a coma no one thought she would ever wake up from. You could love her from afar but go on with your life because there was such a small chance the life you'd planned with her would ever happen. But now Caroline is awake, the true love of your life, and you have to break her heart."

"What about _you_?" he demanded. "You were two seconds away from ending her life before I stepped in to take care of the expenses. You were going to let your only child die rather than find a way to keep her alive. Where's _your_ guilt?"

"My guilt?" Liz shot back. "I live it every time I look at her perfect face and think about that. I deal with it every time her doctors tell me there's something new they need and I have to send you the bill because I can't afford it. But I haven't left. I've been here every single day, talking to her and holding her hand, begging her to wake up, all while you've been down in Louisiana, starting over somewhere new where people don't remember you as the guy who drove Caroline Forbes off Wickery Bridge."

This shut Klaus up immediately. _That_ was his real guilt; that he'd done this to Caroline in the first place. If he hadn't hydroplaned on the bridge, they'd have been married now, maybe with a child, or at least a dog. He'd be a lawyer in Mystic Falls and she would be an event planner and they would've been happy.

Liz finally rubbed a hand over her face. "Look, Klaus, I'm not trying to make you feel bad—"

"You're not?" he interrupted coolly. "Could have fooled me."

"I'm not," she continued, "but you can't let her believe you still want to marry her. She deserves better."

"You think I don't know that?" he snapped. "I owe every good thing in my life to Caroline. I wouldn't be who I am today if not for her. And that's the problem, Liz. I still do want to be with her; I always have. I just didn't think it would ever again be possible."

"Oh, no," she shook her head, walking to stand directly in front of him. "Don't do this to her, Klaus. Don't you dare let her fall back in love with you now so you can pretend like this was all some bad dream. She definitely doesn't deserve that and I doubt your Camille in New Orleans does either. Caroline will know about her and then whatever happens from there will be up to her, not you. End of story."

Before he could respond, Liz left, leaving him alone once more.

"Did you see her?" Rebekah demanded an hour later when he finally arrived at the family home. "Did you tell her? Is she heartbroken?"

"Bek, let him breathe," Stefan advised his wife, walking up behind her.

"I saw her," Klaus told them tiredly, dropping his bag in the foyer. "But she wasn't up for much talking tonight so I'll go in the morning. But I'd like the day with her."

"No!" Rebekah cried. "She's my best friend, Nik. You can't call dibs, not after you've been gone three years. I've gone to that hospital every other day since she went in, as have Stefan, Elijah, Kol, and Henrik. Where have you been, huh? Screwing the bottle blonde and helping criminals avoid prison. Who are you now, Niklaus? What happened to my favorite brother, the one who wanted to help people and marry Caroline? Where'd he go?"

"Off a bridge," Klaus muttered as he pushed past her and went up to his childhood bedroom on the second floor.

"Can you believe him?" Rebekah scoffed as she and Stefan walked to the parlor. "To think he can just waltz in now that she's awake and say he gets a whole day with her?" She glared at him. "You're being eerily quiet right now."

"Look, Bek, I love you and I love Caroline and I understand where you're coming from," he began, "but put yourself in his shoes. His entire life for four years was Caroline and then she was just taken away. And yes, he left after a year but you remember what he was like during that year. He went to school and the hospital. That was it. He left only when they forced him out and Liz struck up a deal to let him stay some nights when he refused to leave. And finally, he snapped. You have to remember that. He practically destroyed this house."

"I remember," she whispered. "He left the next morning."

"Went to New Orleans to stay with Marcel," Stefan went on.

"And he met that tramp and never came home," Rebekah grumbled. "I mean, fine, it all got to him and he couldn't deal anymore because Nik doesn't do emotional stuff like this—thank you, Mikael—but to take up with another girl so soon? It's appalling. Caroline deserves a million times better."

"I don't think he intended for Camille to get this far," Stefan admitted. "She was supposed to be a distraction but then I think he started to like her because she was so different from Care. Camille is calm and laid-back and quiet."

"And trampy," Rebekah added.

"You've never met her," Stefan pointed out. "Every time he invites us, you decline."

"On principle!" she yelled. "Why would I want to meet the woman who has kept my brother away from home for three years? Away from the woman he really loves?"

"You can't put that on Camille," Stefan told her. "From what I've understood, he hasn't told her anything about Caroline. I mean, I'm sure she knows now but he always kept his past here very vague."

Rebekah shook her head in disbelief. "You're actually defending the two of them right now? Jesus, Stefan, wake up! He abandoned her! He drove her off that bridge and got away with a broken arm and some scrapes while she lost four years of her life!"

Upstairs, Klaus sat against the wall of his room, listening through the cracked door to his sister yelling downstairs. The old Klaus, the one who self-destructed at the drop of a hat, would've gone back down there and fought with her until the wee hours of the morning. But now, he just sat and listened because he knew Rebekah was right. Liz had been right, too. While he was living in New Orleans, he could just push all of this to the back burner, partly assuming Caroline would never wake up (though never truly giving up hope), but now that she had, all the guilt he'd repressed for four years came flooding back and all he could do was accept it.

Just as he was getting up to settle in, his phone rang.

"Hello, darling," he greeted Camille quietly, shutting his door.

"You were supposed to call me when you landed," she reminded him sternly. "I've been worried sick."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "I apologize. It must've slipped my mind in the rush to the hospital."

She was momentarily silent. "So, how is she?"

"I'm not quite sure yet," he answered. "We only spoke briefly because she was tired and wanted to rest. I'll know more when I see her in the morning."

"Is she how you remember?" Camille asked, though she wasn't sure she was prepared for his answer.

"Yes and no," Klaus admitted, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He smiled at the memory of seeing Caroline awake for the first time in four years. "She's still just as beautiful but she's older now, whether she understands that yet or not, and not as soft. But her light is still there."

"Oh," Camille whispered.

He knew he was only making a bigger mess of things with this conversation.

"I'll still return on Monday," he finally said, no matter how unsure he was of that statement.

"Right," she breathed, clearing her throat, as Diane's words came back to her. "Well, will you call me sometime tomorrow?"

"Of course," he replied, a photo on his old desk catching his eye.

"I love you," she said.

"Me, too," was his only response as he ended the call and crossed the room to the desk.

The photograph was of him and Caroline on the day he'd proposed to her. She'd just finished her sophomore year of college at Whitmore and he was through his second year of law school. It had been the happiest day of his life. For weeks she'd been begging him to take her to Richmond and he finally caved, knowing it would make her happy. While they were there, he surprised her with a picnic and spontaneously asked her as she shoved half a turkey sandwich in her mouth. Once she'd chewed, she threw her arms around him and happily agreed before smothering him in kisses. He grinned at the memory of a mother of young children telling them "the park was a public place" before storming off towards a patrolling officer. Klaus and Caroline had quickly gathered up their things and ran off to avoid being punished. It was a day he would never forget and it still often haunted him while he slept; the smile on her face, the way she looked at him as she said yes.

He picked up the frame and studied the picture, trying so hard to keep that day in his past. But now that she was awake, Klaus had a strong urge to protect her from everything she was about to deal with and whisk her away someplace safe. Unfortunately, the biggest thing she would have to deal with was his absence in her life and he wasn't ready to face that.

"Shit," he muttered, setting the photo back down to let his head drop to his hands. "Shit, shit, shit."

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**So, not a lot of Klaroline here but we get some back story and Klaus gets laid into pretty good by Liz and Rebekah. And he starts to deal with the overwhelming guilt he feels for everything. I was overwhelmed by the response to this story. It started small and you guys just took to it so well and I so appreciate it. Thank you! As always, let me know what you think and tell me how you'd like to see Caroline react, keeping in mind that this _is _a Klaroline story so it'll end happily. The whole next chapter will be their day together so it'll be longer. **


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